MWSA Review

Lieutenant Colonel (ret) William Baker’s The Brownsville Texas Incident of 1906 is a thought provoking and educational work about the injustice done to 167 black soldiers in 1906, and one man’s fight to bring them some modicum of justice.

In 1906, a battalion of the 25th infantry regiment, an all black unit (except for the officers), was posted to Fort Brown, in Brownsville, Texas. The unit had a proud history, and had seen combat and fought heroically in the Philippines and in Cuba, but Texas wanted no part of them. The men were subjected to discrimination almost immediately. Then, on a dark night, several raiders shot up the town and everyone swore the black soldiers committed the act. Six investigations in total were conducted, but they were all racially biased, and President Teddy Roosevelt drummed out all 167 black soldiers with dishonorable discharges. The men had no trial, no chance to face their accusers, and all the evidence that could exonerate them was dismissed.

Seventy years later, LtCol Baker, working in the Army’s Equal Opportunity Office, had a chance to do something about it. Despite opposition and an attitude by some to “let sleeping dogs lie,” Baker worked tirelessly to clear the soldiers’ names and get some sort of compensation to those still living and their widows.

I appreciated how the author broke the book into two parts. First, he constructed a plausible re-enactment of what happened that evening from documents and research, making the event much more interesting than if he had just relayed it third person. The second part is told in first person as he relates what he had to do to get justice for the soldiers. Sadly, the author died weeks after completing the manuscript and did not see it published.

This is a great story of moral courage and eventual justice. Those interested in the history of race relations in the military and social justice in general will find this compelling.

Review by Rob Ballister (July 2020)
 

Author's Synopsis

Terror at Midnight

At Midnight, August 13, 1906, unidentified bandits raid the town of Brownsville, Texas, where the First Battalion, Twenty-fifth Infantry of the United States Army, a unit of 167 black men, is stationed at Fort Brown. The raiders unleash a 10-minute barrage of bullets that kills a young bartender, wounds a police lieutenant, breaks windows, studs the sides of houses, fells a horse out from under its rider and causes wide-spread panic among the white townspeople.

President Theodore Roosevelt charged that all 167 black soldiers were responsible for the carnage. The men signed affidavits swearing their innocence, yet were subsequently discharged without honor and without trial. Their pain and suffering did not end with that humiliation. They also lost their pensions and were barred from any future government service.

Worst of all, they were forever stigmatized with the dishonor of a crime they never committed—a tragic mistake that set Colonel Baker on a decades-long quest for justice. When Americans are charged with the commission of a crime, they are entitled to a trial and all of the rights associated therewith. Innocence before guilt. Due process of law. These basics of constitutional protection cannot, should not, be superseded by anyone, including the President of the United States. In addition, the underlying theme of redemptive justice—craving it, pursuing it and finally getting it—flows throughout this book. It is never too late to correct injustice.

This story, chronicled here in three sections, illustrates that powerful truth. Together, they form the chronicle of Colonel Baker’s fight to exonerate the innocent, and the ultimate triumph of justice denied.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-943267-71-2, 978-1-943267-92-7
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 504